Eric Slivka
Eric is the Editor-in-Chief of MacRumors and has been writing for the site since 2008.
An avid swimmer and former biophysicist, Eric has been using Apple products for over 35 years and has been interviewed for pieces by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reuters, BBC, CNBC, and other publications.
Eric's current primary role involves day-to-day oversight of the editorial operations at MacRumors, but he also contributes occasional news and review articles while handling various other duties related to the site's operation.
An avid swimmer and former biophysicist, Eric has been using Apple products for over 35 years and has been interviewed for pieces by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reuters, BBC, CNBC, and other publications.
Eric's current primary role involves day-to-day oversight of the editorial operations at MacRumors, but he also contributes occasional news and review articles while handling various other duties related to the site's operation.
Eric Slivka's Articles
Apple and Virgin Mobile USA Planning to Launch iPhone 5, But Timeframe Unknown
While the three major U.S iPhone carriers launched the iPhone 5 on September 21 and prepaid carrier Cricket and a number of regional carriers followed suit on September 28, one U.S. brand has been curiously silent about its plans for the iPhone 5: Sprint's prepaid Virgin Mobile unit. Virgin launched the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 in late June, offering prepaid plans for as low as $30 per month to...
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'iPad Mini' Production Reportedly Underway in Brazil
Japanese blog Mac Otakara reports that it has received information from a source indicating that Apple's assembly partner Foxconn has begun production on the forthcoming "iPad mini" at its facilities in Brazil. The report seems to be a follow-up on the site's July report claiming that production would begin ramping in Brazil in September.According to my source, iPad mini was started production...
Apple's iOS Developer Guidelines Now Targeting Third-Party App Discovery and Promotion Tools
PocketGamer.biz highlights a recent addition to Apple's iOS developer guidelines revealing that the company is now specifically targeting third-party apps intended to serve as repositories of information on other App Store apps, whether it be in the form of curated app discovery, promotional listings, price drops, or other similar app directory features. The new guideline was added in a...
Tim Cook Thanks Apple Employees for Outstanding 2012 with Extended Thanksgiving Vacation Time
Just as he did last year, Apple CEO Tim Cook has sent an email to company employees thanking them for a successful year and letting them know that they will be receiving the entire week of Thanksgiving in the United States off in order to spend more time with their families. The extra holiday days of November 19-21 are being given with pay. 9to5Mac has the full letter.Team, Apple is having...
European Union Requesting Examinations of Apple's Warranty Advertising Practices
Bloomberg reports that European Union (EU) officials are asking member states to examine Apple's warranty advertising practices, alleging that the practices may be misleading for not adequately addressing two-year guarantees required under EU law. Apple was previously fined $1.2 million in Italy over the issue, but examination of the situation now appears set to spread to other countries in the...
Verizon iPhone 5 Customers Will Not Be Charged for Inadvertent Cellular Data Usage Issue
Yesterday, Apple released an iPhone 5 carrier settings update intended to address an issue in which cellular data was being used even when the device was connected to Wi-Fi. The issue drew a number of comments from users who had noticed unexpectedly high data usage over the few days they've owned their devices, and many have wondered whether they would be charged for the data consumed due to the ...
Apple Launches New App Store Feature Section for Alternative Maps
Following this morning's release of an open letter from Tim Cook apologizing for issues with the new Apple-driven Maps app in iOS 6 and mentioning some alternative map options available to users, Apple has also added a new featured section to the App Store highlighting some of those map alternatives. A host of alternative apps ranging from free to Magellan's $49.99 "RoadMate USA" are...
Sharp Now Producing 'Adequate Volumes' of iPhone 5 Display
Reuters reports that Sharp has publicly stated that it is now producing "adequate volumes" of the display for the iPhone 5, bolstering Apple's efforts to catch up with high demand for the device.Sharp Corp is making "adequate volumes" of displays it is known to supply for Apple Inc's new iPhone5, a company executive said, indicating that a possible bottleneck in supplies of screens may have...
Tim Cook Publishes Open Letter on Maps for iOS 6
Apple CEO Tim Cook has published an open letter to customers on the company's website addressing the criticism over the new Apple-powered Maps app in iOS 6. In the letter, Cook apologizes for not meeting expectations and mentions a number of alternative mapping solutions customers may wish to use while Apple is refining its Maps.To our customers, At Apple, we strive to make world-class...
iPhone 5 Costs Roughly $0.41 Per Year to Charge
Energy efficiency company Opower today released a study calculating the annual energy cost for charging the iPhone 5 at just $0.41. While any user's actual cost would vary based on use and electricity rates in their areas, Opower's estimate assumes a full charge once per day at a U.S. average of 11.8 cents per kWh. But while an individual iPhone 5 uses a minuscule amount of energy, the...
Apple Researching Flexible iPhone Displays with Under-Surface Speakers, Tactile Feedback, Laser Microphones
Unwired View takes a look at a newly-published Apple patent application addressing the company's interest in flexible displays and related inventions enabled by that technology. In the patent application, Apple details various iPhone form factors with concave and convex displays, and while such concepts have seen relatively significant work by a host of companies, Apple takes things a step...
Apple's Split with Google Over iOS Maps Driven by Turn-by-Turn Navigation Dispute
Reports about the high-profile split between Apple and Google that saw Apple replace its Google-powered Maps app for iOS with its own solution have continued to trickle out, with AllThingsD now reporting that the lack of turn-by-turn directions on Google's Maps app for iOS was the key motivator for Apple.[M]ultiple sources familiar with Apple’s thinking say the company felt it had no choice but ...
Apple Reportedly Sourcing Thinner Components for 2013 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro
While Apple's MacBook Air is already extremely thin and the new Retina MacBook Pro has reduced the thickness of the company's flagship notebook by 25%, work naturally continues on new ways to shave even more thickness from future versions of Apple's notebooks. Digitimes reports that Apple is working with suppliers on a new process that will enable the company to shave 0.15 mm from the...
Google's Work Toward Standalone iOS Maps App Complicated by Integration with Google Earth
Amid varied reports claiming that Google has been working on a replacement standalone Maps app for iOS to replace the bundled app included with every version of iOS until last week's release of iOS 6, The New York Times weighs in with its own sources claiming that Google is indeed working on a standalone app for iPhone and iPad and is hoping to have it available in "another couple months or so". ...
Apple Sourcing Carbon Fiber Components for Upcoming Product?
Mac Otakara reports that it has received information from a source indicating that representatives of Apple and Foxconn have been working to source unknown parts from a company with expertise in carbon fiber materials.According to my source, some engineer of Apple and Foxconn Technology came on Japanese company, which has carbon production in mid-March, and they requested to develop some sample. ...
Apple Reportedly Had Over a Year Left on Maps Contract with Google
Amid widespread complaints over Apple's new iOS 6 Maps app, which replaced the Google-powered application that had shipped on iOS devices since the iPhone debuted in 2007, some observers have wondered how much of the shift was due to Apple's desire to reduce its reliance upon on Google and how much might be due to other factors. In particular, there has been some speculation that demands by...
Apple's Lightning Connector Uses Adaptive Technology to Dynamically Assign Pin Functions
With Apple's new Lightning connector on the iPhone 5 dropping to just eight contact pins from the 30 pins seen in the original dock connector and gaining the ability to be inserted in either orientation, many have wondered just how Apple has been able to maintain most of the functions of the original dock connector. Others have wondered why Apple simply didn't shift to micro-USB, an existing...
Teardown of Apple's A6 Chip Reveals Manual Layout of Custom Dual-Core CPU
iFixit and Chipworks have partnered on a teardown of the A6 system-on-a-chip, Apple's custom design that powers the iPhone 5. While several of the high-level details such as 1 GB of RAM and a dual-core CPU paired with triple-core graphics have already been shared, the teardown confirms all of these details with high-resolution images showing the various components of the chip. Perhaps most...
Phil Schiller Says iPhone 5 Scratching 'Normal' for Any Aluminum Product
9to5Mac reports that one of its readers emailed Apple's marketing chief Phil Schiller regarding scratching of the iPhone 5, an issue that we documented on launch day. The issue is most visible on the black models due to the anodized slate color scratching off to reveal the silver color underneath. According to Schiller, such scratching is "normal" with use.Q: I love my Black & Slate iPhone 5,...
Tight iPhone 5 Supplies Linked to In-Cell Display Technology
While Apple set a company record by selling over five million units of the iPhone 5 during the device's launch weekend, it clearly could have sold even more if supplies had been available. Pre-orders for the iPhone 5 sold through the company's launch day stocks in just about an hour, and shipping estimates for new orders have been sitting at 3-4 weeks since soon after pre-orders began. Bloombe...
